//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: MLP: A Favor Returned 
// by WorldWalker128 
//------------------------------//


Chapter10



“Remind me again why we're breaking out of jail when we could just wait for them to finish their meeting.” I said while he peeked around a corner.
Even though Celestia had told the guards to keep and eye on us, as soon as she'd left they took a length of chain and placed a simple lock over the two ends as an addition to the cell door's lock. They then left. When The Doctor was sure they were gone he smirked and pulled his Sonic Screwdriver out of a pocket and undid both locks. Against my better judgment I followed him and Ditsy out of the cell.
“Two reasons. One: I hate being forced to sit around and wait for something to happen.” I rolled my eyes. “Two: so that we can get your staff back before Celestia decides to use her magic on it to discover if she knows whose horns went into its making. I may not be able to use magic myself, but I find it highly doubtful that she would not recognize her father's horn. She might decide to have you and the rest of us executed before we even get a chance to explain ourselves if she learns we're time travelers and concludes that it was you that killed him!” 
I could feel the blood draining out of my face and imagined that I looked quite pale. The Celestia of the future would not have done that, but I recalled the brief moment when I told her that her father's horn, when he was already deceased, went into the making of my staff. To say she was angry was putting it mildly. Fortunately for me she was very smart and recalled shortly after that I had been in the Everfree Forest at the time that the royal crypt had been broken into and was robbed. I had no alibi with this Celestia, and she lacked the wisdom that time and experience would eventually grant her. She might very well be that hasty in this time and it was not a risk I cared to take.
“As the Doctor prescribes.” I replied, following him and Ditsy around the corner he'd been peeking around. “You wouldn’t happen to know where the throne room is, would you?”
“Fortunately, yes I do.” He replied as we climbed a set of stairs back up to ground level. “When Thanatos gave us a tour of the old castle he covered the entire place. It's on the second floor of the keep, towards the rear. With security here being so low, it should be very easy to find. Now, Celestia's bedroom will be another story, if she took the staff there at all. She may have taken it to a lab for study, or a vault, or an armory. She might even still have it on her person. Hopefully she won't.”
We hid ourselves from a passing patrol of one in what seemed to be either a simple guest room or a servant's quarters. It was very sparse and small, and only had one small window that doubled as an arrow slit. There wasn't much light but there was an unlit candle on a small table next to the bed in case more was needed. There was also a small empty metal basin next to it, which I assumed was for washing. Once he was gone we left and did not see another guard for nearly eight minutes. When we did see a guard again he was asleep on his fee- er, hooves and was lightly snoring with a dumb smile on his face in front of an iron door with a small slot at pony-eye level and another higher at near my own eye level. That higher one is probably for a fully-grown Alicorn.
Cautiously and without hesitation The Doctor sneaked to the door and slowly opened it. Thankfully it did not squeak and we got through without waking 'Sir Snooze'. The iron door led out into what I assumed was the courtyard. Fortunately it was deserted. The Doctor nodded, screwdriver still in his mouth, and trotted across the courtyard with us in tow. I glanced briefly at the two large stones in the center with a large number of names carved into them, but only paid it minor attention as we passed them by.
When we arrived at a larger set of wooden doors opposite of another set of large wooden doors that led in the direction of what I assumed was the main gate The Doctor once more sonic'd the lock, which turned out to not be locked at all and he had to do it again to unlock it for real.
Ditsy face-hoofed while The Doctor, looking mildly embarrassed, scratched the back of his head and pushed the door open and then quickly and without warning grabbed me and Ditsy and shoved us to one side, himself included.
“What do you-” The Doctor shoved a hoof in my mouth. A mouth which now had hurting teeth in it. I wanted to vocally complain, but I was effectively gagged, and had no desire to taste whatever he'd been walking on. A few moments later to my surprise several Alicorns walked out with sad and serious expressions on their faces. Ditsy and me both turned our eyes of The Doctor, who looked like he was having his own internal discussion. Finally the Doctor put on a friendly face and stepped out from our hiding spot.
“Hello there! I take it that you three are Celestia and Luna's parents, yes?” While the Alicorn turned in surprise The Doctor continued to speak. “Sorry to just pop in unannounced like this and all, but we really need to speak with you on a matter of grave importance!” The Alicorns were facing him now, and The Doctor looked over his shoulder at Ditsy and myself. Ditsy and I looked at one another, and then also walked forward, stopping behind him. “These my loyal assistant Ditsy Doo, and the Human stowaway, Jacob Lighthand! My name is-”
“The Doctor.” said the black Alicorn. “We know.”
“I-” The Doctor paused, looking confused. “wait, you know?” The black Alicorn nodded.
“Yes. The Shield already told us who thee all are, and why thee art here.”
“Oh.” His face of confusion became a cheerful smile. “Well then, that speeds things up then, doesn't it!? So, will you help us?”
“Only if you can promise us that thee can get us back home again shortly after thee take us forward. If thou cannot promise this, then no, we shalt not.” The Doctor nodded, still smiling.
“Of course I can get you back to the time that I take you from! I've been flying my TARDIS for over nine hundred years!”
“Then go with you we shall, but not before we have a chance to speak to our children should we not return.” We had no problem with it. After all, the end of the world (again) wasn't going to happen for more than a thousand years. What was the rush?
“May I request one thing, your majesties?” I asked with an upraised hand. They said nothing to discourage me, so I continued. “earlier we got busted for sneaking in and your eldest daughter confiscated my mage staff. Could I perhaps get it back before we leave?”
“Mage staff?” Thanatos inquired, tilting his head to one side. “What is a mage?”
“Back home, the word 'mage' is a word for 'powerful magician'. It is with this staff that I am able to use more magic than any six of Equestria's most powerful Unicorns altogether at their best.”
“I can see why thou art against being apart from it. Whom did thee acquire the horns from to have an object of such potential?” I hesitated and looked to The Doctor, but it was Mantle that came to my rescue.
“Thanatos, just as we shouldst not ask questions about the villains that our daughters will one day face in our absence, so too should we not inquire after the demise of others yet to be born lest we avert them ever having been born in the first place.” Thanatos looked as if he might pursue his inquiry further, but then nodded.
“Very well.” Mantle also nodded, and then looked back to me.
“It shall be done. You shall need every bit of power and skill you possess, if your need is truly so great to risk the destruction of your time line by bringing us forward with you.” I bowed.
“Thank you, your majesty.”

*  *  *  *  *

The Doctor slammed the doors of his TARDIS shut and breathed in the freshly-recycled, non-crap-smelling air of the outhouse next to his TARDIS, and then breathed it in again, held it, and exhaled it all at once. Then he smiled and walked around his most recent control room. It was smaller than most of the others due to his own shrink in size, but he did not mind. Home was home no matter what the color of the walls or the make-p of the flooring was, and the one place other than this one that he felt most at home at was long gone in both his own dimension, and this one. His one constant companion, comfort, and method of transportation was beneath his fee-
Hoofs, Doctor, you have hoofs now! He reminded himself. -was beneath his hoofs and all around him. But in a month's worth of linear time it might not be. Once again I'm going to be facing an enemy that has haunted and seemingly chased me throughout all the ages and I've time and again pushed back. But this time it's not one or two ships, or a hundred. This time there's a whole galaxy of them out there, and even though we'll only be facing a tiny portion of them in the upcoming fight, what will happen if we win? Of course he knew. They would just send more, many, many more. Too many. No matter how hard this joint-dimension's defenders fought, eventually they would be overrun.
Still, they'll live a bit longer, and that's all that anyone really can ever realistically hope for in a war. One more day, one more hour, one more minute of dear, sweet or bitter life. The Doctor completed his circuit of the room and slowly approached the control console. He ran a hoof over it, almost caressing the worn, smooth warm metal that seemed to pulse with life. But then, a TARDIS was grown rather than built, which meant that in a way, it was a life form.
“I've put you through so much, old girl. No doubt, if we survive the upcoming confrontation, you'll be put through yet more.” The Doctor circled the console, keeping one hoof on it, dragging it along the outside. “We could just run, you know. We could leave them to their fate. It isn't like this is our reality. Their lives aren't our responsibility.” The lights in the TARDIS dimmed slightly. “But then, you'd never forgive me for that, would you?” The lights brightened to normal once more. “And what of miss Doo? She's young, she's brave, she's pretty, and at times I think that she believes that the crazy and adventurous brown pony and his magical blue box are indomitable. So many wonders we've shown her, oh yes. So many wonders, and so many horrors. Things that would have wiped her unprepared planet out a dozen times over if not for that wonderful blue box and its pilot there to save the day.” He sighed. “As always, I dread the day when she'll be proven wrong; the day that proves that even with all my experience, all my brilliance, and this wonderful you, that one day we'll get into trouble, and I'll be unable to save her...like so many others.”

%  %  %  %  %

A slightly-blushing Ditsy Doo from being called brave and pretty leaned forward and patted The Doctor on his right shoulder and told him not to worry.
The longer he'd spoken his part, the more saddened he'd begun to look until Ditsy patted him, and then he looked up into her own smiling reddened face and cheered up a bit.
“I'm a big girl, Doctor, and you've taught me a lot. I can handle myself when you're not around.”
“Besides that, Doc, hasn't Ditsy been the one to save our butts a few times?” Jacob asked. “Like that one time where you got you and me stuck after that cave-in and she convinced the local Diamond Dogs to dig us out? Or how about that other incident on Cothus nine in two thousand and sixty nine years from now when the carnivorous parasprite infestation in that interplanetary-food-import warehouse almost escaped and Ditsy crashed the bug-spray zeppelin into it?”
“Point taken; she's more than capable of handling a stressful situation and saving the day!”
“And just remember, Doctor,” Ditsy added, no longer smiling. “If you ever actually leave me behind again, you'll be leaving our daughter without a father. We may not be married, but she still loves you.”
The girls and Spike stared at The Doctor in disbelief, who spluttered.
“W- wait, it's not what you think! I-”
“How...un-gentlecolt of you, Doctor! It seems I was wrong about you!” Rarity hmphed. Pinke gasped loudly
“You two have a daughter?!” Pinkie asked. Then she went through her many Ponyville-resident memories. “Oh yeah! Dinky! I was wondering why you two were always around each other whenever you were in town! But wait, neither of you are Unicorns, so how does that work? Oh but the Cakes have both a Unicorn and a Pegasus for kids and neither of them are either, so maybe-” While Pinkie theorized aloud on Ponykind genetics, the Doctor quickly explained to a suspicious group of sapient female herd animals that Dinky was not his biological daughter. 
Dinky had witnessed some of The Doctor's exploits in the modern era, however, and knew that he and her mother were good friends, so she had started calling him uncle first, and after he confronted several bullies making fun of her and her mother and later read her bedtime story, had upgraded that title to daddy before going to sleep.
“It seemed that I fell within her fatherhood parameters, so she decided to adopt me into her family.” He shrugged. “She had such big teary eyes and a hopeful-sad expression when she asked if she could call me that, I just couldn’t find the will to refuse.”
“Most kids, whether they're a Pony, Human, Diamond Dog, Dragon, or almost anything else seem to have that skill. It's like their own Stare, only heart-pulling instead of scary! So not fair!” Rainbow Dash said, thinking of the CMC.  More than once their puppy-stare won over her better judgment and she'd helped on them in one of their harebrained plans to get their Cutie Marks. Rarity nodded, also having caved to the wishes of her little sister over such an expression.
“Alright, perhaps I was a tad too hasty. You have my apologies, Doctor.”
“Think nothing of it, Rarity. Actually, now that I'm thinking about her, how has young Dinky been?” Twilight opted to answer.
“She's-” Twilight halted. “Sorry, Doc, but 'how she's been' involved you. If you don't know how she's been then I can't tell you. It might ruin things for her.”
“So she's doing well then I take it? Good! Does she have colt-friend yet?”
“Oh, he's such a darling fellow, Doctor!” Rarity said, recalling her last encounter with him. “He's polite, kind, handsome, excellent at using magic, and has wonderful taste in fashion!” Rarity swooned. “If I were but a few years younger!” She sighed regretfully. Suddenly an idea occurred to her. She adopted a sweet expression. “Good Doctor, do you perchance think you could take me perhaps say...eight years into the future?” Everypony frowned at her, already suspecting her intention. Ditsy's frown was bigger than the others, complete with narrowed eyes. She lifted off the ground with her wings and landed in front of Rarity with all four hoofs. She stuck her face against Rarity's who pulled back slightly. Ditsy's face followed.
“I would have thought a 'lady' such as yourself would have a bit more self-respect than to think of stealing my little muffin's colt-friend! Since it seems not, let me be clear: I have a friend who has a time machine that can also teleport. That friend likes my daughter. Make my daughter unhappy, and I'll ask him to drop you off on the moon!” Rarity gulped and looked at The Doctor.
“You wouldn't really- I mean you're a protector- I did make that wonderful suit for you...or rather, I will eventually! Can't do that from a celestial body, you know!” The Doctor gave her a flat stare and said nothing. Beads of sweat ran down the side of her face. And she quickly tried to change the subject. “So, um...how did younger Celestia and Luna react to their parents saying they were going to be leaving?”
“Oh, they were far from happy,” Jacob answered, rubbing an odd scar on his arm that looked like a burn mark in the shape of a magic rune. “Especially Celestia, who knew after just a little study that one of my staff's ingredients was an Alicorn's horn. She'd thought I was going to try stealing her parent's horns!”
“So why didn't Celestia know who you were back when you first came to Equestria?” Twilight asked.
“Well that was close to two thousand years ago, Twilight.” The Doctor explained, returning his attention back to their story, to Rarity's relief. “Even my memory starts to get fuzzy on things after three hundred years' worth of linear time!”  Ditsy fluttered back to her spot from before and sat down. Once comfortable she reached for Pinkie's popcorn, which she'd pulled from seemingly nowhere and waited.

*  *  *  *  *

Elpis gave her daughters one last hug, and then entered the TARDIS, leaving one daughter with concerned eyes for her parents and a look of strong distrust for the male Human who once more held the ivory and wood staff that she knew contained two Unicorn horns and one Alicorn's horn. He had given her his word that he would bring no harm to her parents and uncle, but she was hesitant to believe him.
Luna, her other daughter, waved goodby with a smile on her face and asked that they bring her and her sister something back from the future as a present.
“Like some candy, or a new pet! But I'd prefer candy!” Little Luna reminded why she waved goodbye next to her sister.
“We shalt return soon, daughters.” Mantle stated, also waving. “Take care of our subjects whilst we are absent. And of course, care for one another.” Celestia and Luna nodded, and Thanatos shut the blue door s of the TARDIS. A few seconds later, the TARDIS faded out of existence in that particular time, leaving little Luna and young Celestia standing alone with only one of their guards, who was stunned, and walked forward to examine the place in which the blue box had disappeared from.
“They're gone!” Celestia nodded.
“And we shalt await their return. Come, sister, there is much that we must do in our parent's absence.”
“Okay, Celestia!”

Celestia and Luna's parents would not return until after Discord's defeat, and what a bittersweet reunion it was, for their kingdom had been decimated by Discord's Chaos, and they already knew that it would be. 
One did not remain a good ruler for long if they could not detect even the most obvious of lies, and the first rule of traveling with The Doctor was that 'The Doctor lies'.

^  ^  ^  ^  ^

I whooped this time around as the TARDIS finally 'landed' and stopped rocking like a roller coaster gone Discord. I recalled my first (technically second, since I was asleep for most of the first) trip through the time vortex and the looks on the three royal's faces were priceless.
Shaky-legged and bodies trembling, Elpis, Thanatos, and Mantle still clung to the guard rails around the control room.
“Doc, you should charge admission for that!” I suggested with a grin on my face. Now that I'd known what was coming I had prepared for it by raiding the clothing room for two leather belts and had secured myself to a bolted-down chair. “No theme park has anything on your TARDIS!”
“I thought thee said that thou had been flying this for centuries!” Thanatos exclaimed, voice also shaky. “How canst thee be such a poor pilot!” The Doctor snorted.
“Considering that none of you volunteered to help me I think I did a fine job!”
“Thine TARDIS' control scheme is different from our people's!”
“A likely excuse!” Ditsy said from one side of the control console.
Ditsy had been trying to help, and she had in that she'd stopped it from flipping upside down again. She then shared a high hoof with The Doctor. Now they were safely landed, and Ditsy trotted to the door to open it.
Greatly relived to be able to stand on solid, non-rocking ground again, the three royals galloped out, dropped to the marble floor and hugged it. Several guards that had been eating their meal a moment ago dropped their food and stared in shock at the three 'new' Alicorns.
“Mother of Celestia!!!” One of them exclaimed. Elpis lifted her head and looked at the guard.
“Yes? Doth thee require something?” she asked from the floor, which made the guard's jaw drop to the table that he'd just dropped his food to and elicited gasps from everyone in the room.

An hour as the sun started to set all of Canterlot was in abuzz over the arrival of three previously unseen Alicorns, though as of yet they did not know for certain whom the 'newcomers' were. Newspapers and letters were going out from Canterlot in all direction from both magical and mundane means, while other whom owned them used cellular telephones. 
Celestia had been overjoyed to feel the embrace of her mother, father, and uncle once more. Once pleasantries and small talk and several more sudden embraces from Celestia occurred she composed herself and sent a message through her guards to temporarily break off contact with Earth at The Doctor's insistence. No one was allowed to go to Earth, and no one was permitted to come back from it. 
This decision would be sure to cause an uproar all its own, but The Doctor explained that he felt Luna should be kept in the dark for now so as to ensure her not being distracted during her talks on Earth. She would have plenty of time to see them later, provided we succeeded in the purpose for which we had brought the ancient royals forward in the first place. Celestia wasn't entirely happy about the suggestion, but agreed.

While the royals and The Doctor, and The Shield as well discussed what they would do next, Ditsy and myself decided excuse ourselves to have a look around. As important as their plans no doubt would be, politics would probably make up most of the discussion, and I very much so disliked political discussions after having being forced to attend a Triple G, which was also known as the Grand Galloping Gala and put up with so many of Canterlot's 'nobles' trying to get in the royal's 'inner circle'  as they put it, through me.
“Ditsy,” I said out of the blue as we meandered through the marble halls that were, with the exception of new decorative tasseled red curtains and a few various new (to me) paintings of ponies in various poses in various locations, mostly the same. Ditsy, fluttering along beside me rather than walking, turned her head to look at me. “did you know that the word 'Gala' is actually a type of apple?” Ditsy nodded her head twice.
“Uh huh, I knew! But I bet I know something that you don't!”
“I'd be surprised if you didn't, having traveled with The Doc for so long.”
“Well, that too, but I meant  here on Mythica, not out in space.”
“Again, you've probably seen more than most historians do in their entire life.” I smiled.
“No, not really. I've not been traveling with The Doctor for very long yet. Most of what he's seen me wasn't so much about time traveling as it was seeing the galaxy as it is now. He says that most of what we've seen is similar to what's going on in his own galaxy, although there have been several places we've visited that were different.”
“Such as?” I asked as we exited onto a balcony that overlooked Canterlot, which appeared to be mostly unchanged with the exceptions that it had expanded to twice its original size (compared to my time), and there were just as many Humans walking about as Ponies.
“Well, we visited this one world on the outer edge of the galaxy and found this weird ring-shaped doorway on top of a pile of worn stone in a clearing. There were strange symbols all over it that the TARDIS couldn't translate!”
“And that means...?”
“It means that the ring's language was older than his race! According to him, Time Lords were among the eldest races in the universe! He says that he's only encountered a situation like that only once before in his own world!”
“Isn't it just possible that the race that made that language simply did not exist in his own reality?”
“That's what I asked him, and he replied that 'at the very least it was possible'. He then mused over the symbols for an hour while I had a look around. That place had tasty grass and flowers! I took some of it back to The Doctor's greenhouse for later!”
“He has a greenhouse in there?” I asked, once more amazed at the TARDIS' ability to contain things. Or perhaps places was a better word. 
“And an anti-gravity ball-pit, too!” She grinned. “We had lots of fun playing with his balls!”
My face went from smiling to flat as the dirty part of my mind re-translated that. I coughed a few times and then changed the subject.
“So was that what you knew that I didn't?” She shook her head.
“Nope! There's-”
Ditsy was suddenly interrupted (to her mild annoyance) by a bit of excited chatter from behind us. We turned our heads and looked behind and saw a mix of schoolchildren of both ponies and humans and two adults (one of each with a male being a pony and the female a human), whom I assumed were teachers standing behind us. The teachers stared at my staff. Being teachers, they likely knew what it was, and through it, who I might be. With Celestia's deceased family seemingly coming back from death, perhaps Luna's student also returning would not be out of the question as well. 
The chattering we'd heard was coming from the two teachers themselves, so this strengthened my thought.
“You...” One of them said, pointing at my staff. “Do you have any idea what that is?!” I nodded.
“Yes. It's my Alihorn staff. It was created by combining two Unicorn horns, one Alicorn horn, some platinum, and some wood so add some length.” The two teachers turned back to chattering with one another, and one of their students, an earth Pony with a chocolate-brown hide and a vanilla-white mane and tail and gold eyes stepped forward to continue where his teacher had left off.
I looked down at the kid as he approached us. He stopped a little over four feet away and then looked up.
“Are you one of The Great and Powerful Trixie's great-grand kids?” he asked. I shook my head. Trixie had kids? Well good for her! “Then why do you have her staff?”
“That's not her staff, Oreo! It's the wrong color and it's too long!” another Pony, this one a Unicorn possessing a sickly green hide and a bark-brown mane and tail, observed correctly. “He's probably a member of the Lighthand family. Don't you pay attention at all in history class?!” Ignoring the insult, Oreo asked if I was indeed from the Lighthand family. I nodded.
“Can we see some magic!? Do something big!” Several Earth children eagerly asked. At least, I assumed they were from Earth. In two hundred years, a lot could have changed. Perhaps Humans had been allowed to set up permanent residence since then.
“Now, now, students,” the Pony teacher began. “that staff is a relic from over two hundred years ago, and is likely very fragile from use by now.”
“Nah, it's fine!” I said, moving the staff so I could hold it with both hands. “What would you like to see?”
“Hmm...” Oreo rubbed his chin. He shrugged and looked over his shoulder. Several hands shot into the air and several of the children hopped up and down in place.
“A fireball!” Said one human child eagerly.
“Teleport!” Another called out.
“Fly!” A red Pegasus demanded, hopping into the air herself.
“Shape-shift!” A black earth Pony with blue eyes.
“Summon lunch! I'm hungry!” Ditsy piped up beside me. I laughed.
“We'll get lunch after this, Ditsy.” I looked back at the children. “Come on! Surely you can think of something cooler than that!”
The students cast their eyes about the room, wracking their brains for 'something cooler'. Finally it was the same Unicorn from before that came up with something.
“Do Luna's job; raise the moon!” The other students and the teachers stared at her, then looked expectantly at me. I raised my eyebrows, then made a nervous face and turned and looked at the opposite side of the horizon, hesitant. I have the power...but I don't know...I didn't finish that lesson before I left...
“Now hold on a moment, Crystal Shine!” One of the teachers objected. “If he's going to even try that he'll need the princess's permission first! He probably doesn't want to get thrown in a dungeon over a misunderstanding.”
“Indeed.” I acknowledged. “However, if we can get permission, then I will attempt it.” The way I saw it, she'd probably say no. But if she did say yes and I messed up in some way, (which I probably would) Celestia could correct it and all would be well. She probably will say no. My lesson on this subject was incomplete before I left. Trixie might have been able to pull it off, but she's probably dead now.
Though I knew that I'd probably see her again if we made it through the upcoming confrontation, the thought that, with the exception of Ditsy Doo, whom until recently I'd only know through the occasional delivery she made to the palace, everyone that I'd known from my time was dead, buried, and likely decayed into dirt by now. In a way, I was the last of my kind. At the very least, I was a displaced piece of history, not unlike my staff.
“So, since I need the princess's permission to do raise the moon, and since she's busy right now, any pony or any person have any other ideas?”

Before they could come up with an idea for me to show off, Ditsy and myself were once more summoned back to the throne room.
“That was quick.” I thought aloud as I reentered the throne room.
“We still hath yet much to discuss, human.” Mantle stated. “But for the moment we hath a task for thee.” I nodded. “Thee are to go with the group of Unicorns and those of your kind that shalt be assigned to thee. There is something in the Everfree forest we would have thee recover for us. If we are to have any chance at all without using forbidden magics, we'll shalt require it.”
“What will I be looking for?”
“Oh,” he chuckled. “I think that thee shalt know what it is when thou see it. Just do not attempt trying to activate it without us being present. Thee lack the endurance.” I did not know wha the meant by that, so instead I asked when I was to leave. “As soon as possible. The others hath already departed and shalt meet thee at thine destination. Dost thou recall the path thine military people made when they first came to our world?” I nodded. How could I forget? “Go there and await further instruction.” Again, I nodded.
“What about me?” Ditsy asked. Mantle looked at her, and then at The Doctor.
“Thee and The Doctor shalt be going to Earth to alert their leaders to the situation that shalt soon be occurring and attempt to better prepare their world for it.”
“We're committed now, Ditsy. Either we win, or we lose.” The Doctor declared, giving Ditsy a grim expression. “We're finishing this adventure.”

*  *  *  *  *

Ditsy shut the door of the TARDIS and trotted across the room, her hoofs clanking on the floor beneath her with each step until she stood next to The Doctor, who prepared to move the TARDIS to the gateway connecting the two worlds. All the jumping back and forth from one time to another had worn out most of the power cells. Too much more constant use and they'd die completely.
It was for this reason that they would enter Earth on foot- er, hoof and make their way to the nearest government center in this time. No doubt most of the area would be unchanged in terms of classical structures, but as he'd seen from orbit before the area where once the Stone Arch Gateway once stood by itself, there would now be filled with many buildings, some larger than others, and some extending deep underground.
Unlike in his own reality he spent much less time on or around Earth in this one having already seen much of its history already, which had been much the same as his own reality, and this one apparently possessing the advantage of not being invaded by hostile aliens every other decade. This did not mean they were never invaded, simply not by hostile races. This difference had given him much more personal time to simply enjoy a jaunt through time and space to one designation or another.
Unfortunately this was a double-edged sword as almost nobody knew who he was on Earth which meant that other than looking adorable as a Pony and his nearly one thousand years of persuasive ability and almost always being right he had very little to convince this human race that trouble was coming, and coming soon
The Doctor frowned a little as he set the coordinates to land them near the constructed facility that housed the Gateway. Most likely they'll do what they always do and have a mass-panic, or not listen to a word I say until its too late. As usual.
The TARDIS vibrated for a few seconds, and then settled. The Doctor nodded to Ditsy and told her to take anything she thought they might need.
“We'll not be coming here again until this is over.” he warned. Ditsy nodded and walked downstairs. The Doctor waited, having a feeling he knew what she was going after. He was surprised, then, when she came back carrying a scarf in her mouth, another wrapped around her neck, saddlebags, and a water gun from the 1980's balancing on her back several minutes later (the age of the good Supers-soaker squirt-guns.).
“Um, Ditsy? Why the water gun?”
“I filled it with blueberry juice from your fridge!” The Doctor saw where she was going with that and nearly smiled, but there was one small problem with her idea.
“You do know that you need fingers to pull the trigger and make it shoot, right?”
Ditsy raised one eyebrow, spit out the scarf, reached over to her back with one hoof and 'grabbed' the gun, then opened her mouth and pointed the gun at it and shot two squirts into her mouth. She licked her lips to clean up any she might have missed, and then gulped. The Doctor stared. “Never mind.” She smiled and once more retrieved the scarf, this time wrapping it around The Doctor's neck. “You might think you'll live forever, but you won't if you get sick from being cold!”
“Ditsy, it's a little over seventy degrees outside. I don't think we're going to freeze.”
“What if you need to go into a big freezer?” Why would I be going into a big freezer? Oh never mind, she means well. The Doctor smiled and bowed his head a little.
“I bow to your wisdom in these matters, miss Doo. Shall we go?”

The pair of intrepid adventurers were halted at the entrance to the Gateway building by a crowd of angry humans and ponies alike that were yelling at the building and demanding access.
“Hmm. Perhaps I should have landed us inside the building instead.” The Doctor muttered.
Ditsy looked at the crowd and then squinted at the doors and then the big window to one side that extended from the ceiling to the floor and was two and two-thirds meters long. On the window was a big sheet of paper that stated that until further notice the Gateway facility was closed by royal edict. It did not say why, so Ditsy asked The Doctor about it.
“Oh, that's my fault. I suggested to Celestia that we break off all contact with Earth for a little while to prevent news of the royal parents' return from reaching Luna until as late as possible. Remember, she's handling peace-talks on Earth right now. I suspect that she would be rather distracted mentally if she learned that her mother, father, and uncle, whom are deceased in this era, have seemingly come back from the dead. At the very least she would want to investigate the rumors herself by asking her sister about them, and I know that Celestia hates lying in general.”
“Is that why you and her don't really get along?”
“No, no, she forgives my lying to her as long as its in the best interests of her kingdom. She doesn't like it, but she forgives me.” The Doctor frowned at the building. “The reason she and I don't really get along is because both of us like feeling in control of a situation, and most of our encounters involved things she's never seen or had to deal with before. It is difficult having a near-stranger appear out of nowhere and take control of a situation that, even with all your expert experience and power you're no match for.”
“So with that edict in place, how are we supposed to get through?”
“Well, we could always try asking nicely.”
“Does that ever work?” Ditsy asked, her expression doubtful.
“Sometimes. Not often, but sometimes.”